


Touch Me Once

by jbsullivan17



Series: Soulmates [9]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25167073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jbsullivan17/pseuds/jbsullivan17
Summary: They were in the middle of an argument at lunch, entertaining the masses, when Principal Kane walked in and announced the valedictorian and salutatorian. It was the first time Clarke watched Bellamy concede to anything without fighting.Or the one where your skin glows the first time you touch your soulmate.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Series: Soulmates [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1167317
Comments: 7
Kudos: 185





	Touch Me Once

It was no secret that Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake were enemies, they’d been feuding since middle school when the two elementary schools merged into one middle school so they met and not only fought for the top spot of the class but for class president and lead prosecutor in mock trial. They took it as far as racing in gym class, whoever finished the mile got to rub it in the other’s face until their next face off, usually within a week.

It was like that for years, even when they were seniors and valedictorian and salutatorian were being held off from being called because their GPAs were tied. Clarke sometimes wondered if her dad didn’t die in the beginning of the year and she wasn’t distracted during an Econ test that would have brought her to the lead officially crowning her valedictorian but she was distracted, her father died unexpectedly, no one could really blame her for being distraught.

The principal had to tell them in May so they could write their speeches, make them appropriate for their level of success, they’d both gotten into Columbia and Princeton and Yale. Clarke found out that Bellamy was looking into state schools if he couldn’t get scholarships and grants for an Ivy and Clarke didn’t want to give up their rivalry in eight weeks. She wanted him to go to Columbia so they could continue their feud or maybe just be friends since they’d be studying different fields. She wanted a familiar face when they were eight hundred miles from home.

They were in the middle of an argument at lunch, entertaining the masses, when Principal Kane walked in and announced the valedictorian and salutatorian. It was the first time Clarke watched Bellamy concede to anything without fighting.

“Congratulations, Princess, another win you didn’t need,” he said solemnly before turning to leave the cafeteria but Clarke didn’t want that reaction, she wanted him to fight for his rightful place at the top.

She reached out to stop him, to say something to fuel his argumentative side but the moment she touched his arm, a light illuminated the room and everyone who’d stopped caring about their feud or who was valedictorian, turned to look at them. Everyone was watching and, to Clarke, it felt like they were the only people in the room.

Bellamy stared at where she touched him and he looked up at her for a moment before pulling away. “You’re my soulmate? No. No fucking way. I’m not living my life with this nightmare of a person!” he spat and Clarke nearly jolted in shock and horror.

“Nightmare? I am _not_ a nightmare. I am a goddamn dream to be around! I’m a National fucking treasure, Nick Cage _wishes_ he could steal me!”

Before she realized what she’d even said or that she admitted to watching historical movies (and documentaries), Bellamy smirked.

“If you’re going to watch history, make sure it’s telling the truth by fact checking. Nothing in those movies were real.”

Bellamy walked out of the cafeteria, Clarke feeling like he ripped her heart out as he left.

A week went by without them arguing over anything, the hushed whispers of everyone in school were louder than any argument they could have fought. Bellamy sat in the back of the classes they shared and didn’t argue with any of the answers Clarke gave, he stayed as far away from her as possible and she wondered if his heart ached just as much as hers did with the distance. Another week and all the seniors with college acceptances were announced with where they were going. Clarke had Columbia which surprised no one but when it came to Bellamy and Rockford University was attached to his name... That was another story.

“Rockford is shit!” Clarke exclaimed in his face after school in the mechanic shop, he was under the hood of his shitty truck.

“It’s what I can afford and barely.”

“That’s bullshit, you wrote how many essays for grants and applied to how many scholarships and _still_ almost beat me for valedictorian! How did you get none of them?”

“I did get them.” Bellamy slammed something hard under the hood and popped his head out and turned to look at her, leaning against the grille. “I just… Columbia has always been _your_ dream, I never had the luxury of dreaming because I have my sister. News spread about us like wildfire, my sister found out before school was even out and so did my mom. She left us because I wasn’t going to need her anymore with the grants and scholarships so I could go to Columbia with you.

“I have to stay for my sister, I have to stay and work three jobs and have her work babysitting gigs instead of hanging out with her friends this summer so we can pay rent and have food and electricity while I’m going to school and working two jobs.”

Clarke didn’t know about his home life, she didn’t know any of the big details about him. She just knew that he was poor and he had a mom and a sister, nothing too deep, nothing she could use as venom against him. She liked it that way before but now… they were soulmates and she hoped they could be friends too.

“Bellamy…”

“Don’t, Clarke. I don’t want your pity.”

“I don’t pity you, I think the last seven years were proof enough. I just… do you _want_ to go to Columbia?”

“Is New York going to be any better than Chicago?”

“This is not some ploy to argue with you. I’m being real. Do you want to go to Columbia?”

“Yes.”

“Do you still have the grants and scholarships?”

“They gave me time to change my mind.”

“My mom has an apartment in New York for when she has to stay there for work. She’s giving it to me because it’s right next to a dorm and she’s on the school board so they’re allowing me to live there instead of in the dorms. There are two bedrooms and we might be able to make the dining room a bedroom too from what I remember of the layout. If not, I’ll share with your sister. Come to Columbia, give us a chance.”

“This isn’t about us. My sister has friends here, she loves Chicago, I can’t just move her halfway across the country because the girl I… my soulmate wants to ‘give us a try’.”

“Not how I meant it.”

“I know.” He smirked. “I’ll talk to her. Thanks, Clarke.”

“You know, this might be the first time you call me by my name.”

“Don’t get too used to it, Princess.”

Unsurprisingly to Clarke, Bellamy’s sister, Octavia, jumped at the chance for Bellamy to go to Columbia and to move to New York. It was three weeks after graduation in the middle of July, when they began packing when Bellamy first kissed Clarke. She’d said something about him bringing books to college as a joke but they were moving his and Octavia’s whole lives to New York, it wasn’t just going to college for him, it was permanent. He had no home to come back to once they left.

It was a poorly timed kiss considering but it was perfect, she’d barely had two month to think of what a life with Bellamy Blake would look like outside of fighting for valedictorian or one upping each other. What was their future going to look like domestically?

Whatever the answer was, Clarke couldn’t wait to find out.


End file.
